LETTER TO THE EDITOR: You can attack our people but will not take our dignity

THE Fire Brigades Union has once again been forced into an intolerable position where their firefighters and control room staff are being forced to stare down the barrel of industrial action which includes action up to and including a strike.

The settlement from HM Government has seen a derisory pay offer which I urge all members of our community to scoff at... they are laughing at us and the victims of such bullying are now standing up to say enough is enough.

I have written to all members of the Fire Authority bar two individuals who I don’t speak to.

I have urged them to put forward a plan to government so we do not see strike action. I am yet to see any response.

Nobody wants to see fire strikes but when the money obsessed clowns come for the pensions, the terms and conditions, for the pay and for dignity at work of firefighters and control room staff it is incumbent on us all to say no, no, no.

The Fire Service, the postal service, the NHS, the police, the education system and the wider public sector is not for sale.

Some years ago the police all turned their backs away from a Fire Brigades Union speaker when he warned them their pensions were next on the attack list.

It’s awful but police pensions have now been attacked.

I’m proud to have stood on every fire strike picket line in the past 20 years and will always defend our heroes.

The government and the employers can attack our people but they will never take our dignity.

Paddy J Cawkwell, West Street, Conisbrough